Capital Punishment: Should the Appeals Process Be Streamlined?

April 8, 1992

The article "Capital Punishment Is on the Rise; California on Verge of an Execution," March 25, is very interesting.

Before the death penalty was finally abolished in Britain in 1969, a number of men were hanged whose innocence later came to light. The most famous is probably Timothy Evans, who was granted a posthumous free pardon by the Queen in 1966. There were others, though, like Walker Rowland and James Hanratty.

In my opinion, therefore, there is a strong argument for not streamlining the federal appeals system in the United States. I agree with the viewpoint expressed in the article "that no safeguard in the system is too much when a person's life is at stake." James Westland, Nottingham, England